After a DU on 2011-08-03 02:00GMT, which seemed to go without issue, I now find that my 64-bit studio workstation is now unable to make sound because the file /usr/bin/hdspmixer has been removed due to not working with new kernels (although the file is still mentioned in my non-updated locate database).

Does anyone have any suggestions of how to get hdspmixer back again, even an old version on an old kernel? I tried copying the file from my other 32-bit system, but that failed of course! I'm not quite sure how to use git and make my own package. But I do still have alsa-tools-gui versions 1.0.23-3+b1, 1.0.23-4 and 1.0.23-5 packages in /var/cache/apt/archives

This is a major issue for me, as without hdspmixer my music studio is without sound, and my new sweetheart is coming round to stay at the weekend and I wanna serenade her...

[Devs please ignore this post, as clearly nobody here uses RME Hammerfall DSP soundcards, which are a niche product for multi-channel recording. Since this is hardly an aptosid problem, more an issue with Sid/upstream, I'm just replying here to point any Googlers straight to a temporary solution pending an upstream release, to save them hours of wading through links...]

Well, after a sadly silent month (!) in the studio and much head-scratching, I have finally got sound working again

http://packages.debian.org/sid/alsa-tools-gui
I excitedly thought this week's update in Sid of alsa-tools-gui to the required version 1.0.24.1-2 might fix the issue of hdspmixer not working, but alas no. Although now the hdspmixer binary is back in /usr/bin where it should be, the command fails, despite having already invoked hdsploader at bootup:

for me, alsa-tools-gui 1.0.25-2 is fine with kernel 3.1-6.slh.1, but fails with kernel 3.2.0-3-rt and kernel 3.5-2.slh.3 -- specifically, on the bad kernels, hdspmixer fails with a "HwDep ioctl failed. Metering stopped" error. the same version of hdspmixer is (so far!) completely solid with the 3.1.6 slh kernel.

i'm going to test with horo's most recent kernel as well -- that's 3.0.9.

please let me know if you have any interesting results with recent alsa-tools-gui or kernels, which might shed any light on any of this!

After sid unfroze and all upgrades passed without issue, I finally found the balls to remove the hold I'd had on alsa-tools-gui, and tonight took the plunge and installed version 1.0.27-2 replacing my olde (but working) version 1.0.23-3. Great! It works, along with a shiny new GUI for HDSPmixer, along with many other changes:

I'm seeing one tiny (new) issue in HDSPmixer: there is no signal moving in the level meter for my headphone output's right channel (#26), which is labelled "AN R". It just looks like silence without drawing any graphics in the channel, although sound passes OK and the fader works as it should raising and lowering volume. The level above it reports "minus infinity dB", which is obviously what it's drawing as a graphic (i.e., silence), but I am certainly hearing sound.

The left channel is fine, and the level meters in Ardour are of course both fine too. This happens using a variety of sound sources, both via JACK and without. Not a dealbreaker, but curious. There are no Debian bugs mentioning this, just another unrelated issue I'm not seeing.